Attention: As bombs and bullets... As bombs and bullets burst around them and... And the lovable surgeons of the 4077th stitch their way... Stitch their way through humor and hijinks... I know my opinion is unpopular, but I still think the movie was better. That is all.
Robert Duvall's portrayal of Frank Burns was powerful and disturbing, whereas Larry Linville was just plain silly. Every time I think of Larry Linville I think of a TV laugh-track.
Sally Kellerman was really loopy and lascivious whereas Loretta Switt was just vapid.
Elliot Gould was a genuinely rude and crude human being whereas Wayne Rogers was a total nonentity.
Donald Sutherland seemed to be on a never-ending LSD trip (befitting the hero of a late 1960s movie) whereas Alan Alda was just a wisecracking comedian who was in love with himself.
And Gary Burghoff was a truly lovable teddybear under the direction of Robert Altman, but was just another second-banana under the various hacks who directred the TV show.
Having said that, I concede that the TV show actually improved on the movie with several terrific new characters, including Jamie Farr as the transvestite Max Klinger, David Ogden Stiers as the aristocratic Charles Winchester, Edward Winter as the paranoid CIA agent Col. Flagg ("You never saw me; I do not exist"), and Allan Arbus (husband of famous photographer Diane Arbus) as the psychiatrist Doctor Sidney Freedman.
I don't know about "Handyman"'s comment that the show was written by a hawk. It may have come from a war novel by Richard Hooke, but by the time Ring Lardner Jr. (ring-leader of the Hollywood Ten) got his hands on it, I would say the basic message was about as lefty as you can get. At least, that's the reason I always liked it.